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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-12-04 Daily Xml
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Flagstaff Road Upgrade

Mr MURRAY (Davenport) (14:49): My question is to the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government. Can the minister update the house on the state government's commitment to widen Flagstaff Road?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:49): I thank the member for Davenport for a question that relates to my ministerial responsibilities. Not that long ago, the member and I took the opportunity to take a bit of a drive through his electorate and to drive up and down Flagstaff Road—a road I have had cause to travel up and down on many an occasion, as one does for matters of the heart—to understand the difficulty that exists and has existed for a long time on Flagstaff Road, where we have a situation where two lanes go one way and then one lane goes the other way, except when two lanes go the other way and one lane goes the other way.

We in opposition have taken the decision and we have funded, as part of our 2018-19 budget, money to fix Flagstaff Road. This is not an easy project to deliver. We are in early-stage planning works at the moment, talking with various utility companies about understanding what we need to do underground to be able to provide this fourth lane, then use that information to understand what is the best infrastructure solution, engineering solution, to be able to deliver on this commitment.

Can I say to the people of the south—Happy Valley, Coromandel Valley, Aberfoyle Park, those residents who have wanted a fourth lane on Flagstaff Road for many years—that this government is committed to getting this done. We are committed to providing this for the people of the southern Hills areas because it is a ridiculous situation that has been allowed to stand for too long. What we have also been able to do is undertake some high-level concept planning work, which shows some potential solutions that we have to make this fourth lane work.

We are also very cognisant of the fact that we need to fit this work program in and around the massive work that is happening at the Darlington Interchange. Those residents who have had to drive through the Darlington Interchange and deal with what is a constantly changing set of traffic arrangements as various parts of the bridge network get brought on line have shown great patience. I am really looking forward to that Darlington Interchange project being finished so that the residents of Davenport can get the benefit of the traffic improvements that are going to exist around that area. We can then make sure, as we undertake this Flagstaff Road upgrade, that we do that in sympathy with the work that is happening on the Darlington Interchange.

But wait, Mr Speaker. When it comes to election commitments and delivering them, there's more. The member for Davenport and I also took the opportunity to go and have a look at the Candy/Lander—

Mr Brown interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Playford can leave for half an hour under 137A.

The honourable member for Playford having left the chamber:

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: —and Main South roads intersection, again an intersection that has been essentially in an inferior situation for a long time and is probably a relic of a time when the Southern Expressway didn't exist. It's a great opportunity for us to be able to remedy this, as we have seen residential development really grow over the past few decades on both sides of Main South Road, around that area and to provide them with better connectivity to what is now a secondary arterial road, in Main South Road, as the majority of the traffic has moved over to the Southern Expressway.

We are looking to change the traffic signals and open up the right hand turns with Candy Road and also through-traffic movements between Candy Road and Lander Road. That's extremely important as we help to bring back that area to being a local community area where people can get from A to B in a pretty straight line. This will also help to alleviate something called 'rat running', which is not a term I have heard many times before, but is one that really does create issues in parts of our neighbourhood.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: Once again, we see a government that promised one thing before an election, has put it into the budget after the election and is now delivering for the people of South Australia and the member for Davenport's electorate.

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